i dunno... gonna be my first race ever... I heard the course is more of a Super D though... not really DH... a lot of pedaling and smoother then Sea Otter... lol I think running 2.35 Minions should be fine for the day...

hey everyone he talk about DH, just to let u know, most ppl think XC, im going to be there rocken the AS-X, and rogue shirt, say hi . i will also be listen to music on the climb up o and rocken some sweet sun shades

Hey Francis, see you at the xc race. I'll be in the cyclesports / team oakland jersey, probably on a red blur. I think I'm racing sport 35+.

I'd do the dh, but then I'd win so hard that everyone'd be devastated and they'd cry and they'd have to have another race for everyone else special olympics style. Cause I totally slay. So I'll just do the xc.

I'd do the dh, but then I'd win so hard that everyone'd be devastated and they'd cry and they'd have to have another race for everyone else special olympics style. Cause I totally slay.

Nuh-uh.

I'm hella faster than you at downhill, ridin' my front suspension (100mm BAYBEE!!) with my spandex shorts all halfway down my bum gangsta-style, all making everyone just go home 'cause they're too slow and making all the girls scream 'cause they saw part of my bum and want to see more.

Hey Francis, see you at the xc race. I'll be in the cyclesports / team oakland jersey, probably on a red blur. I think I'm racing sport 35+.

I'd do the dh, but then I'd win so hard that everyone'd be devastated and they'd cry and they'd have to have another race for everyone else special olympics style. Cause I totally slay. So I'll just do the xc.

that course was great! Now that I'm not doing them, I thought all of the climbing added a great chess match element in terms of how hard, when, and for how long. The decents were a blast, and I think my handling skills got better today for sure. Tick it was good to meet you. It was also good to FINALLY meet the legendary Francois, I'm looking forward to a Thu night at the Gap with you fellas. Thanks to RJ3 for the very tasty and well timed Sierra Nevada.

It looks like HCW is paying off for me now. Last year in CCCX, I was lucky to be in the top 10. Today I won my second CCCX race at Toro Park, (love that climb)

I have recently converted my Niner to a 1 X 9 set up from SS in preparation for Sea Otter XC. Friday night when installing a new cassette, 12 X 23 (itís like a SS with a few extra gears) it was just not shifting right and its 10pm the night before my race! I discovered I had a bent Derailleur hanger, after about 45 min. and a few tweaks the bike was shifting like it should. All I could think about was a skipping chain on the long climbs. Hmmm, maybe SS isnít that bad after all.

The race went very well, I was able to take the lead at the start and never looked back. I was well into the two classes that started ahead of me halfway through the first climb and the bike was shifting like a champ.

Looks like I will be in Sport next year.

Carmen has a lot of picís of the Sports race and she hope to have some of them posted by Sunday night.

That was a fun course! Having never ridden it before the race, I took it easy on the first lap to get familiar, but by the fourth lap that downhill was really starting to get fun. The climb was also not too bad. Solid middle ring effort with only a few short steep spots. I finished mid-pack, which sure beats the last place result from race #3.

Way to go Francis for not only passing me with ease on the first lap, but also nabbing a top five finish. And congrats to Jeff for another win. Sport class awaits...

that course was great! Now that I'm not doing them, I thought all of the climbing added a great chess match element in terms of how hard, when, and for how long. The decents were a blast, and I think my handling skills got better today for sure. Tick it was good to meet you. It was also good to FINALLY meet the legendary Francois, I'm looking forward to a Thu night at the Gap with you fellas. Thanks to RJ3 for the very tasty and well timed Sierra Nevada.

Right on Al. Sounds like your race came together nicely. So what was your trick for not cramping?

I cramped before the crest of the 4rth lap. So I put it in a low gear and just winced.

I don't know if there is a trick, because I had some twitch legs on the last lap climbing. The only thing that saved me was the gel my wife gave me before the lap started. Here's what a nutritionist friend told me:

1) Day before race: 3:1 ratio of water to a bottle of your favorite secret sauce (Heed, Cytomax, etc). She also said race day hydration starts 2-3 days before the event.

2) Race morning: get up by 7am and start hydrating, and drink a bottle of sauce on the way to the venue. Sauce bottle during the warm up, and don't eat anything solid two hours before race time. I also took some Endurolytes and Sport Legs about an hour before the race. This is where a gel flask comes in handy.

3) During the race: I'm extremely lucky because my wife goes to the races, and gives me a fresh bottle every lap if I need it, and gels if I'm out. Today I went through three bottles, two gel flasks, and a right before the last climb to keep the bad man away in my legs.

4) Post race: she wants me to drink either Endurox or Accelerade to get some protein until I can get something solid to eat.

That was a fun course! Having never ridden it before the race, I took it easy on the first lap to get familiar, but by the fourth lap that downhill was really starting to get fun. The climb was also not too bad. Solid middle ring effort with only a few short steep spots. I finished mid-pack, which sure beats the last place result from race #3.

Way to go Francis for not only passing me with ease on the first lap, but also nabbing a top five finish. And congrats to Jeff for another win. Sport class awaits...

I had zero warm-up since I was so late but I pinnned it on the first lap. I was lucky to survive.

That descent was sketchy on the first lap. Rigid fork gave me a little beat down.

Nice!! Is that moving time accurate on your motionbased? My time was around 1:32 as well. So we climbed 3,434 feet that fast? Optimistic motionbased prob'ly.

Cesar huh? That guy took the year off biking last year. Maybe he was just in secret training. He looks so damn light.

Cool family shots!

fc

I think it's accurate. I forgot to turn it off after my race, had an extra ten minutes on lap four, so I edited the xml and cut out everything after the finish line latitude / longitude. MB still shows the total time including my post-race knuckleheadedness. Edit: fixed it.

Now it's just shy of 5AM, and I'm doing it all over again. We had to get up at 4:30 yesterday to be there in time for my wife's 9AM race. Today I'm workng at the Vuelta de Brisbeen. My team helps put it on. Then race with the medium old guys at 1. Tonight I am going to sleep!

We got zero racing pics, but plenty of goofy pics. Kids had a good time in spite of driving "forever".

After looking at Morgan's Motion Based times all I need to do is bring my average speed up 1 mph + and add a lap of pain, to be near the front in Sport

Gee it seems so simple, but it's so hard.

Oh dude it's true. Still if you won the beginner race you belong with the sports! It's an upward path. And the sports are nothing like the experts. Nothing will make you go faster than racing a category up. It's eye-opening just how much faster some fields are, but on the flip side you have that much capacity for improvement in you, if you want it. That's one of the reasons why I love racing.

I agree with Morgan 100%. Last year was a pretty good one for me (five top fives), but this year, WHOA MAMA! The learning curve got a lot steeper, but yesterday's race was the best one yet, and I think I finished 16 or so mins off the lead. But, my first race was 20 mins off, and the 2nd one was a DNF. Life is definitely on its way to getting better on the bike.

One of the things that has helped is doing road races. Nothing builds race fitness like, well, racing, and there are a ton of skinny tire races around the Bay Area.

i got a 4;20 i though i did better than i actually did
heres a pic
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